First sight of the tempel tower, the Gopuram at the southern main entrance

Gopurams seen from the roof of a nearby handicraft shop

The Meenakshi Sundareswara
Temple

This huge
templecomplex is dedicated to Lord Shiva known here as Sundreswara, the handsome God, and
his consort Parvati or Meenakshi, the “fisheyed Goddess”.

The
complex is surrounded by a high wall enclosure, at the core of which are the
two sanctums for Meenakshi and Sundareswara, surrounded by a number of pillared
halls. The Thousand Pillared Hall with 985 beautifully carved and decorated
columns, dating back to the 16th century, now serves as a museeum,
which display bronce and stone images.

Impressive
are the 12 gopuras or pyramidal gates. The towers, ranging from 45m to
50m, are are covered with stucco figures of deities, mythical animals and
monsters, painted in vivid colours. These towering gates mark the entrance to
the temple complex at four cardinal points, North, South, East and West. Lesser
Gopuras lead to the
sanctums of the main deities.

The temple
was designed in 1560 by Vishwanatha Nayak and built during the reign of
Tirumalai Nanak. It’s history goes back to the 7th - 10th centuries, to the time when Madurai was
a Pandyan capital. It was extensively added to between the 14th and
18th centuries.

The temple
complex covers an area of six hectars.

Ritual

In this
temple it is custom to honour the goddess first and most pilgrims therefore
enter the temple at the southeastern corner through the Ashta Shakti Mandapam
and proceeds directly to the Meenakshi shrine.

In the
Meenakshi shrine lies the bed to which Meenakshi’s “husband”, in the form of
Sundareswara, is brought every night from his own shrine.

Wiev of the huge temple area with the golden roof of Meenakshi shrine

Fierce
monster images with protruding eyes and horns, mark the
arched ends of the vaulted
roofs and serve as guardian deities

Impressive stocco forming the entrance of the Gopuram

Openings allow light to enter the hollow chambers at each level

The Stucco

The temples highly
decorated Gopurams (temple towers) range in the height from 45m to 50m and
the tallest is the southern tower. The Gopurams are highly adorned with carvings
of celestial deities, mythical animals and monsters, painted in vivid
colours

This most colourful stucco,
depicting the life of the Hindu deities, are repaired, repainted and ritually
reconsecrated
every 12 years.

Life in the temple yard

Workers resting in the the shade of a Mantapam

Palmist at work also in the shade

Naga Murtis (snake idols) at one of the main entrances

Ganapati, the highly revered Elephant God

The temple elephant

The temple elephant take her daily walk in the
huge corridors,
to the great amusement of the visitors in the temple.

The coin ritual is very popular and a little scary! Give the
elephant a coin
and she will bless you by touching your head with the
trunk.

Ganapati - Ki Jay!

The
Potramarai Kulam or the golden Lotus Tank

The
Potramarai Kulam is surrounded by a colonade with steps (ghatt) leading to the
water and with the golden lotus, made of several kilos of gold, as the eyecatching
center of the lotuspond.

This golden Lotus, made of pure gold speeks for itself

Huge pond in Madurai city from where the materials for the Meenakshi Temple were
gathered.
Stones were cut in this quarry and transported to the nearby temple construction